NEWS

In 2023, Spain welcomed a historically high number of international tourists, with a whopping 85 million visitors.

In 2023, Spain broke tourism records with an unprecedented number of foreign visitors: 85.1 million, possibly surpassing France as the most visited European country. These tourists collectively spent almost 109 billion euros in Spain. In December 2023 alone, the number of international tourists increased by 26% compared to the same month in 2022, with Dutch and Belgian visitors increasing remarkably.

In that month, international holidaymakers to Spain reached 5.2 million, with 907,752 from the UK, 819,405 from France, 561,521 from Germany, 354,033 from Italy and 343,052 from the Nordic countries. The year ended with 85,056,528 foreign tourists, up almost 19% compared to 2022.

Dutch visitors grew 23% to 205,639 in December and 4.4% to 4,094,016 for all of 2023. Belgian visitors rose 27% to 170,238 in December and 9% to 2,740,012 for the whole year.

Catalonia led as the most visited region with 18 million tourists, followed by the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Andalusia, the Valencia region, the Madrid region and the rest of Spain.

Foreign tourists spent a total of 108.7 billion euros in 2023, with the average daily spending amount rising by 2% to 149 euros in December and the average holiday amount increasing by 7% to 1,362 euros. Specific spending figures for the Dutch and Belgians are not available.